CHAPTER 30

30:1-11 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. 2 And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? 3 And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees that I may also have children by her. 4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her. 5 And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son. 6 And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan. 7 And Bilhah Rachel’s maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son. 8 And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali. 9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. 10 And Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a son. 11 And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. (Gen. 30:3-9). WIVES AND CONCUBINES. — Among the women named in Scripture, wives are not easily distinguished from concubines. For Hagar is called a wife, and later she is called a concubine, as well as Keturah (Gen. 16:3); also Rachel and Leah gave slaves to their husbands (Gen. 30:3-4, 9). According to the usual language of Scripture, a concubine may be called a wife, but not every wife is called a concubine. That is to say, Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel cannot be called concubines. On the other hand, Hagar, Keturah, Bala and Zelfa can be called wives and concubines. [Question 90]

(Gen. 30:11). ON FORTUNE. — The Latin manuscripts read that at the birth of the son of Zelfa, Leah said: "I have become happy or blessed;" the Greek manuscripts have: ευτυχη, which means rather "good fortune." Unintelligent readers conclude from this that this man adored fortune or that the authority of the Scriptures consecrated this word.  Now either the word fortune must be understood in relation to those things which seem to happen by chance, not because there is any divinity, since the very things that seem to happen by chance happen in reality for hidden reasons, because God does so; from there it is derived that there are words that no one can derive from linguistic usage, such as forte (by chance), fortasse (possibly), and forsitan (perhaps), and fortuito (accidentally), and such a thing seems to echo also in the Greek language in using the word ταχα, as derived from ταχη. Or surely Leah spoke that way because she had kept this habit of the Gentiles. For it was not Jacob who used this term, and cannot be considered as authorized by the patriarch. [Questions on Genesis, 91]

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. (Gen. 30:4) Et dedit illi Bala ancillam suam ipsi uxorem (She gave him for wife Bala, one of his maids to him). the meaning would have been complete independently of the word ipsi (to him). [Locutions]

JEROME OF STRIDON. 30:5-6 BALA, HAVING CONCEIVED, BORE A SON TO JACOB; AND RACHEL SAID, THE LORD JUDGED ME, HE HEARD MY VOICE, AND GAVE ME A SON; SO SHE GAVE HIM DAN'S NAME. The cause of the name is expressed in that she gave the servant the name of judgment, because the Lord had judged her herself; indeed, DAN signifies judgment.

30:7-8 AND BALA, RACHEL'S HANDMAID, CONCEIVED AGAIN, AND BORE A SECOND SON TO JACOB; RACHEL SAID THEN: GOD MADE ME LIVE IN THE HOUSE WITH MY SISTER, AND I FORTIFIED MYSELF. SHE GAVE THE CHILD THE NAME OF NAPHTALI. This origin of the name of Nephthali is quite different from that which is written in the book of Hebrew names; so Aquila says, "God has changed me, and I have been changed," to make Hebrew: NEPHTHULE ELOIM NEPHTHALETI, because of his change, or his comparison with Lia, because the word has both meaning, change, and comparison, Rachel called Nephthali this adoptive son, and then it says:

30:10-11 JACOB HAD A SON OF ZELPHA, A SERVANT OF LIA, AND SHE SAID, IN THE GOOD FORTUNE, AND SHE CALLED HIM GAD. Where we put in fortune, the Greek text also says εν τυχη, this word answering to an event. The Hebrew carries BAGAD, which means, according to Aquila, the force has come. We could say in the force. In fact, it answers both the preposition in and has come. So the son of Zelpha took the name of GAD, which signifies event or force. Let's go on. [Hebrew Questions on Genesis]

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. But Rachel, seeing that she herself gave no child to Jacob, envied her sister, and said to Jacob; Give me children, otherwise I will die. (Gen. 30:1-2) This is a thoughtless and worthy request of a woman worthy of a soul whom jealousy asseds: Give me children. Do you not know that it was not him, but the Lord God who brought it to Lia? Seeing that she was not loved, he opened her breast. Why then ask your husband what is above the forces of nature? Why, forgetting the Master of nature, accuse your husband who can not help it? Give me children, otherwise I will die. Evil fright of jealousy, which degenerates into insanity, as it happens to Rachel! Seeing the troop of children who were born of her sweat and thinking of her solitude, she can not bear this affliction and can not repress the preoccupation which disturbs her, but utters these words full of madness: Give me children, if not I die. She must know the love of her husband for her, and think that it was not by her will that Lia had been so fruitful and sterile herself, when she said: Give me children. Then, to frighten Jacob, she adds: Otherwise I will die. And what did the pious Jacob do? He was angry with these words, saith the Scripture, and answered him, Am I the equal of God, who refused a fruit of thee? (Gen. 30:2) What, he says, you forget the Master of nature and you attack me! It is he who refused a fruit to your entrails. Why not send him your requests to him who can make you fruitful? Learn him, it is he who has rendered you sterile and who has given your sister this rich fertility. Do not ask me, then, what I can not do, and whose master I do not understand. If it depended on me, I would have always preferred you to your sister, since I was bringing you a greater love at first. But since, whatever tenderness I have for you, I can not satisfy you, invoke the one who is the author of your sterility and who can put an end to it.

See the sound thoughts of this righteous man and how, even in the wrath of Rachel's words, he gives him a wise answer, teaching him the exact truth and clearly revealing the cause of his sorrow, so let her forget the sovereign Master to ask another what only he can give. So learning that it is God who refuses her children and seeing that her sister is proud of her, she gets some consolation and said to Jacob: since you taught me that it is not your fault that I remain sterile, take my maid for woman so that I find a weak consolation by taking for mine the children that you will have of her. And she gave him for a wife, his servant, Bala; Balla conceived of him and bore a son to Jacob; and Rachel said, God pronounced judgment, he heard my voice, and gave me a son. That's why she named him Dan. (Gen. 30:4-6) So she found a slight consolation in the birth of her maid: and because of that she gives that name to the child and gives thanks to the Sovereign Master for his birth. Balla had another child of Jacob, and Rachel said, God helped me, and I became the equal of my sister; I am no longer slaughtered; and she called the child Naphtha. (Gen. 30:7-8) She saw that Jacob was not the author of her sterility. She raises her children as hers and gives them their names; his imagination makes him find there a very great consolation. And when Lia saw that she had ceased to give birth, she also gave Jacob Zelpha his servant; she conceived and bore a son, and Lia said, "Oh! happiness (Gen. 30:9-11), that is to say, I succeeded in my design. And she called him Gad. (Gen. 30:11) She named him so because she obtained the object of her vows. [Homilies on Genesis]

30:12-29 And Zelpha the maid of Lea conceived yet again, and bore Jacob a second son. 13And Lea said, I am blessed, for the women will pronounce me blessed; and she called his name, Aser. 14And Ruben went in the day of barley-harvest, and found apples of mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Lea; and Rachel said to Lea her sister, Give me of thy son's mandrakes. 15And Lea said, Is it not enough for thee that thou hast taken my husband, wilt thou also take my son's mandrakes? And Rachel said, Not so: let him lie with thee to-night for thy son's mandrakes. 16And Jacob came in out of the field at even; and Lea went forth to meet him, and said, Thou shalt come in to me this day, for I have hired thee for my son's mandrakes; and he lay with her that night. 17And God hearkened to Lea, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18And Lea said, God has given me my reward, because I gave my maid to my husband; and she called his name Issachar, which is, Reward. 19And Lea conceived again, and bore Jacob a sixth son. 20And Lea said, God has given me a good gift in this time; my husband will choose me, for I have born him six sons: and she called his name, Zabulon. 21And after this she bore a daughter; and she called her name, Dina. 22And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and he opened her womb. 23And she conceived, and bore Jacob a son; and Rachel said, God has taken away my reproach. 24And she called his name Joseph, saying, Let God add to me another son. 25And it came to pass when Rachel had born Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, that I may go to my place and to my land. 26Restore my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, that I may depart, for thou knowest the service wherewith I have served thee. 27And Laban said to him, If I have found grace in thy sight, I would augur well, for the Lord has blessed me at thy coming in. 28Appoint me thy wages, and I will give them. 29And Jacob said, Thou knowest in what things I have served thee, and how many cattle of thine are with me.

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. (Gen. 30:27) Si inveni gratiam ante te, auguratus essem; benedixitenim me Deus in introitu tuo (If I have found grace before you, I would have learned by divination; for God blessed me at your coming). These words of the text do not seem to have a logical reason, it must be said: Si invenissem gratiam ante te, auguratus essem (If I have found grace before you, I would have learned by divination). But since one has expressed oneself thus: si inventi (If I have found), the natural order is this one: si inveni gratiam ante te, permute me augurari, as if there were: O si auguratus essem (O if I had learned by divination)! whose meaning is: Ad bonum augurium te in domo mea haberem (I would have had you in my house for a good divination). [Locutions]

JEROME OF STRIDON. 30:12-13 JACOB HAD A SECOND SON OF ZELPHA, LIA'S SERVANT, AND SHE SAID, I AM BLESSED, BECAUSE THE WOMEN BLESS ME. SHE GAVE THE CHILD THE NAME OF ASER, RICHES. The word riches, πλουτος, is wrongly added when the Scripture thus shows the etymology of the name of Aser: "I am blessed, and the women bless me." Because men (all) say she is blessed, she calls her adoptive son blessed, who in this place at least is the meaning of ASER, poorly translated by wealth. In other places, by a misnomer, Aser can mean wealth.

30:17-18 GOD ANSWERED LIA; SHE CONCEIVED AND BORE A FIFTH SON TO THE BABY, AND LIA SAID: GOD HAS GIVEN ME MY REWARD, BECAUSE I HAVE GIVEN MY MAID TO MY HUSBAND. SHE CALLED THE CHILD BY THE NAME OF ASSACHAR. He is the reward, such is the etymology of this name in the Septuagint. So do not read: What is the reward, as most do, adding the pronoun incorrectly; He is the reward makes the whole name; IS responds to IS and SACKAR to reward. This comes from the fact that, by means of mandrakes served by her son Nubem, she had obtained for herself the arrival of her husband, who was due to Rachel. To follow.

30:19-20 LIA CONCEIVED AND BORE A SIXTH SON JACOB, AND SAID, GOD HATH GIVEN ME A GOOD DOWRY; AT THIS TIME MY HUSBAND WILL LIVE WITH ME, SINCE I GAVE HIM SIX SONS. SHE CALLED THE CHILD ZABULON. Where we put shall dwell with me, the Septuagint translated by me will cherish, the Hebrew JEZBULENI. The meaning is this: Since I gave Jacob six sons, I am safe, my husband will live with me. Also my son is called habitation. It is therefore wrong and violating the etymology that in the Book of Names, Zabulon is translated as the passage of the night.

30:21 THEN SHE BORE A DAUGHTER WHOM SHE CALLED DINA. Dina goes by lawsuit, and more expressively in Greek by δικη. It was, indeed, a cause of quarrel in Shechem. After the names of the children, we must also analyze those of the mother. LIA goes by working. RACHEL means sheep, and her son Joseph is called growth, because his mother had desired to be increased with a child. [Hebrew Questions on Genesis]

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. Zelpha conceived again, and bore another son; and Lia said, I am happy, because women will judge me happy; and she called the child Asher. (Gen. 30:12-13) You have just seen how Lia also appropriates the maid's children, cominenl1elle she says happy and reputed happy because of their birth. But now consider what follows, in order to learn how the passion for jealousy moved from one to the other and tormented alternately, now Rachel, sometimes Lia: Ruben being out in the countryside, at the time of the harvest of wheat found apples of mandrakes and brought them from his mother. And Rachel said to Lia, Give me mandrakes of your son. Lia answered him Is not it enough to have taken my husband, without having the mandrakes of my son yet? (Gen. 30:14-15) Do you see how the passion of the soul is manifested by the words: Is it not enough to have taken me not a husband, without yet having the mandrakes of my son? saying: It is not this: Let him sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes. (Gen. 30:15) Give me mandrakes and keep my husband with you today. See how this text manifests Jacob's affection for Rachel. If, after Lia had given her so many children, her affection was still attached to Rachel, how, if she had not been fertile, could Lia have endured to see her husband always attaching herself to Rachel? Now this one having full power over her husband, leaves him for these fruits, saying that he sleeps with you tonight, in exchange for mandrakes. Satisfy the desire I have for these mandrakes.and take my husband. When Jacob returned, Lia went out to meet him and said to her, "Today you will come with me; I bought this advantage at the price of my son's mandrakes. And he slept that night with her. And God answered Lia, who conceived and bore her fifth son. And Lia said God gave me my salary for having given my maid to my husband. And she called her son Issachar, that is, salary. (Gen. 30:16-18) God, says the text, answered Lia, because he had seen her very distressed and less considered than her sister. God heard him; She had a son and said, I got my wages for giving my maid to my husband. And she called him Issachar. And Lia conceived again and she bore a sixth son and said: God made me a beautiful present. Now I will be the object of my husband's choice, because I gave him six sons. And she called this one Zabulon. (Gen. 30:19-20) From now on, she says, I too will be the object of my husband's love, for I gave birth to six sons. That's why she called this last Zabulon. She also gave birth to a girl she called Dina. And God remembered Rachel; he heard her and opened her breast. She conceived and bore a son to Jacob. And Rachel said, God hath made my reproach vanish, and she called him Joseph, saying, God hath given me another son. (Gen. 30:21-24) God, "said she," has done away with my reproach; he has put an end to my sterility, he has made me fruitful, and has delivered me from shame. And she called him Joseph, saying, God give me another son. Do you see how the promises of God have been gradually fulfilled? What troop of children now has this righteousness, by the providence of God towards him! After he showed the greatness of his perseverance, accepting fourteen years of servitude, the God of all things rewarded him with his piety, multiplying his fortune to such an extent that he became the object of envy, as we will learn it afterwards from the speeches that I intend to address to you.

But, in order not to tire your charity, by extending us today too much, we will reserve, if you please, for another speech the rest of this story, and we will end there this, by exhorting your charity to remember our words and to zealously imitate the virtue of the ancients; to marry your sons and your daughters like them, to call, like them, by your own virtue the blessing of God upon you. Indeed, if God cherishes us, when we are on a foreign land, when we are deprived of everything, when we are not known to anyone, we will reach the height of glory; for nothing is happier than the man supported by the divine hand. It is favored by this assistance that the happy Jacob rose little by little to this elevation, which made him an object of envy for those who had welcomed him. Let us strive to obtain from God the same love in order to merit his assistance; Let us not resort to human powers, and do not pursue such patronage, for nothing is less solid, as the experience of life suffices to teach us. In fact, every day we see rapid changes: the one who was at the height of prosperity is now suddenly dragged to the end of misfortune, and is often dragged before the judges. What folly, then, to continue the patronage of those whose future is so uncertain, when we can assure nothing of our own fate! Let us depart, then, from these human greatnesses, remembering the words of the prophet: This is a cursed man who puts his trust in man. (Jer. 17:5) You see, he is not only foolish, he is cursed, because he forsakes the Master of all things, and resorts to the one who is only a servant like him and which can not be self-sufficient. Let us avoid this curse, I implore you, and let us now place all our hope in God. This one is solid and unshakable; it is not subject to change like that which one has in men. Or death, in fact, put an end to the power of the protector, and left those who resorted to him destitute and helpless; or changes made before death rendered powerless the protector and the protege. Life is full of such examples. They are therefore inexcusable those who, after such an experience, still seek to shelter under human protection, and often to endure a thousand evils of those who appear to be their protectors. For such is the excess of human malice that courtiers are often paid for outrages. But the God of the universe acts in quite another way: he is our benefactor, in all, to us who know his benefits; he gives us his protection without regard to our ingratitude, but to remain faithful to his own kindness. May he grant it to each one of us, by the grace and goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, glory, power, honor, now and forever, and to the centuries and centuries. Amen.

And it came to pass when Auchel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Let me go, that I may return to my land and to my country. (Gen. 30:25) The rest of the speech of yesterday must be put before the eyes of your charity today, so that by learning these words, to know and the tender care that God showed towards Jacob and the love of this just for God, we become the emulators of his virtue. It is not without motive that the grace of the Holy Ghost has caused these stories to be written for us, in order to excite us to zealously imitate those virtuous men. For when we have learned to know the patience of the one, the prudence of the other, the hospitable dispositions of a third, and the many virtues of each of them; when we know how each is particularly illustrated, we are excited to have the same zeal: Come now, and, approaching today the continuation of the history of this just, let us finish our speech.

And it came to pass, says the Scripture, that when Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Let me go, that I may return to my land and my country. Give me back my wives and children, for whom I served you. (Gen. 30:25-26) Admire the gentleness and modesty of the righteous; he sees clearly the favor with which he is the object of God, and yet he does not pride himself on Laban, but he says to him gently, "Let me go, that I may return." Really, nothing is stronger than sweetness, nothing is more powerful than it. In fact, consider how, having warned Laban by his gentleness, he obtained a benevolent answer. Laban, says the scripture, answered him: If I have found favor in your sight, and I must think it, for God has blessed me because of your coming, determine the reward that you desire from me and I will give it to you. (Gen. 30:27-28) Then, then, that I feel such benefits by the effect of your presence, let me know the reward that you will, and I am ready to give it to you. - See what sweetness can! do not go lightly on these words; observe that the righteous did not ask for the reward of his works, that he did not even mention it, he only said this: Give me back my wives, and my children, for whom I have told you served, so that I may return, and Laban, full of respect for the great gentleness of this righteous man, said to him, "Make known to me the reward you desire from me, and I am quite ready to grant it to you." Were not his wives and children with him? Why did he say: Give me back my wives and my children? He gave his father-in-law the honor he owed him; it was that he showed in all things the propriety of his methods, because he wanted this separation to take place with the permission of Laban. Consider, then, how, by these words, Laban was led to promise him a reward and to give him the choice. [Homilies on Genesis]

30:30-43 For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also? 31 And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock: 32 I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire. 33 So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. 34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word. 35 And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36 And he set three days’ journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks. 37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. 38 And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. 39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. 40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban’s cattle. 41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. 42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. 43And the man became very rich, and he had many cattle, and oxen, and servants, and maid-servants, and camels, and asses.

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. (Gen. 30:30) OBSERVE THE MEANING OF THE WORDS OF SCRIPTURE. — Concerning the words of Jacob: the Lord has blessed you at my foot; you must pay close attention and notice the meaning of the Scriptures, lest it seems as if it were augury being used, when in fact it was a normal expression. Thus, it is very important to highlight what he says: the Lord has blessed you at my foot, He wanted it to be understood "at my entrance", and Jacob gives thanks to God. [Question 92]

(Gen. 30:30) ON THE ENGINEERING OF JACOB TO VARY THE COLOR OF HERDS. — About what Jacob did, when he took off the bark of the branches, tearing out the green to make them look white, so that at the moment of conception, when the mothers would drink in the water of the canals, and would look upon the branches in this variety of colors, the flocks of the herds also became spotted. It is said that many facts of the same nature are produced in the animals. There is even a similar story of a woman, and a skillful physician of the highest antiquity, which is described in the books of Hippocrates*. The woman, therefore, having brought into the world a child of rare beauty, who had no resemblance either to its father or mother or to its family; the woman was under the suspicion of adultery, condemned to execution. But the physician whom we mentioned above decided to inquire by seeking counsel to see if there was not some similar picture of the child in the bedroom. A similar picture was found, and this woman was relieved of suspicion. Let us return to what Jacob did: It is not clear how useful it was, for the multiplication of spotted animals, the meeting of three branches of different trees; It was not important for this result that the spotted branches were made from one or more tree species, since the variety of colors was the only necessary condition. We must therefore see a prophecy and a figurative sense in this act that, without a doubt, Jacob did as a prophet: And that is why he should not be accused of deceit. One must believe indeed, that he did not behave in this way only according to a spiritual revelation. Now, in order not to violate justice, as other translators say it more clearly, he did not lay the branches when the sheep conceived a second time. This is what the Septuagint says in few words and with some obscurity:  But he did not put them in whenever the cattle happened to bring forth (Gen. 30:42). This assertion must be understood in the sense that as soon as they had given birth for the first time, so that they do not think that they used to put them when they were going to give birth a second time, so that he did not take all the offspring, which would be an injustice. [Questions on Genesis, 93]

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. (Gen. 30:33) Et exaudiet me justitia mea in die crastino (My innocence will still succeed in the future); it is as if there were exaudiri me faciet (it will cause me to be hearkened to). [Locutions]

JEROME OF STRIDON. 30:32-33 I SHALL PASS OVER UPON ALL YOUR FLOCK TODAY: SEPARATE FROM THERE EVERY STRIPED AND VARIEGATED ANIMAL, AND EVERY ANIMAL OF SINGLE COLOUR AMONG THE LAMBS, AND THE STRIPED AND VARIEGATED AMONG THE GOATS, AND IT SHALL BE MY WAGES. AND MY RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL ANSWER FOR ME ON THE FOLLOWING DAY, WHEN MY WAGES SHALL COME BEFORE YOU. EVERY ANIMAL ON WHICH THERE SHALL NOT BE STRIPED OR VARIEGATED [COLOUR] ON THE GOATS AND ON THE LAMBS SHALL BE STOLEN ALONG WITH ME, ETC. The meaning is greatly disordered by the Septuagint, and up to the present I have been unable to find any of our own people who can explain clearly what is being said in this place. You wish me, says Jacob, to serve you again for another seven years: do what I ask. Separate all the variegated and striped, both sheep and goats, and give them into the hands of your sons; and then from both flocks give to me the white and black animals, that is, those of a single colour. Then if any animal be born variegated from the white and black ones which are of a single colour, it shall belong to me; but if any of a single colour be born to them, it shall be yours. I am not asking a difficult thing. You have on your side the nature of flocks, that white be born from white and black from black; on my side will be my righteousness, while God looks upon my lowliness and labour. Laban eagerly seized the choice which was given and so, doing as Jacob asked him, put a distance of three days' journey between Jacob and his own sons, lest any trickery arise through the proximity of the flocks. So Jacob devised a new artifice, and fought against the nature of the white and the black flock with a cunning produced by nature herself. For three rods, of poplar, almond, and pomegranate (although the Septuagint have storax, nut tree, and plane tree), he partly stripped of their bark and he made a variegated colour of the rods, such that wherever he had left bark on a rod, its old colour remained; but wherever he had removed the bark, white colour was revealed. Now Jacob used to watch closely; and at the time when the flocks were accustomed to mate and were going eagerly to drink after the heat of the day he would place the variegated rods in the watertroughs. Then the rams and he-goats were admitted, and by means of that same eagerness for drinking he would make the ewes and she-goats be mated; so that out of twofold desire while they were eagerly drinking and being mounted by the male animals, they might conceive such kind of offspring they were viewing in the mirror of the waters as the shadows of the rams and hegoats mounting them from above. For because of the rods placed in the drinking-troughs, even the colour of the mirror-images was variegated. Now it is not astonishing that this is the nature of female creatures in the act of conception: the offspring they produce are of such a kind as the things they observe or perceive in their minds during the most intense heat of sexual pleasure. For this very thing is reported by the Spaniards to happen even among herds of horses; and Quintilian, in that lawsuit in which a married woman was accused of having given birth to an Ethiopian, brought as evidence in her defence that what we have been describing above is a natural process in the conception of offspring. Then, after striped and variegated she-goats and lambs had been born of the flocks which were white and of a single colour, Jacob separated them and took them away from the original flock; but if any of a single colour, that is, white or black, were born, he handed them over to the hands of Laban's sons. And he would place the rods which he had stripped of bark in the drinking-troughs where the waters were poured out; and the flocks would come to drink opposite them, so that they should conceive when they came to drink.

30:41-42 AND THE FLOCKS CONCEIVED OPPOSITE JACOB'S RODS, THE RODS WHICH HE HAD PLACED BEFORE THE FLOCKS IN THE WATER-TROUGHS SO THAT THEY MIGHT CONCEIVE BY MEANS OF THEM; BUT BE DID NOT PUT THEM IN WITH THE LATE-BORN SHEEP. AND THE ONES BORN LATER BECAME LABAN'S, AND THE ONES BORN EARLY WERE JACOB'S. This is not contained in the Septuagint; but instead of late-born and ones born early they have translated in some other way which has no relevance for the meaning. Now what Scripture is saying is this: Jacob was circumspect and cunning, and retained justice and fairness even in his new artifice. For if the flocks had produced all variegated lambs and goats, there would have been some suspicion of a trick and Laban in jealousy would have engaged in open opposition to this business. Therefore he so regulated everything that both he himself might receive the fruit of his labour, and Laban might not be robbed completely. Whenever the sheep and goats were mounted for the first time, because the progeny of springtime is better, he would lay the rods before them so that offspring of variegated colour might be born. But as for whichever sheep or goats sought a sire at a later time, he would not put the rods in front of these so that flocks of a single colour might be born. And whatever was born first was his because it was variegated and of different colours; whatever was born later was Laban's. For the flock would rise of a single colour, be it black or white. Now where in this place is written that they might conceive by means of the rods, it has in the Hebrew ieamena: I cannot express the force of the Hebrew word except by circumlocution. For ieamena strictly speaking refers to the last moment of passion in sexual intercourse, when the whole body is convulsed and the final moment for pleasure in the deed is near. [Hebrew Questions on Genesis]

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. And what is this right? See how far he pushes sweetness and how he avoids becoming on this occasion costly and inconvenient for Laban. How? He takes him back to witness his loyalty and the affection he showed her the whole time he served him. You know, 'said he,' how I served you and what your flocks were in my hands. For I found them few, and they multiplied greatly, and the Lord blessed you on my arrival; now will I not make a house for myself? (Gen. 30:29-30) I take you yourself to witness of my labors. You know what affection I have shown you in everything, and how, having received small flocks, my care and my watch have made you many herds. Then, showing his piety, he adds: The Lord blessed you on my arrival; now will I not make a house for myself? You know for yourself that it is since my arrival at home that the grace from above has given your wealth these great increases. Now therefore, since I have shown you my whole love in the time of my service, and the help of God is manifest; it's just that I make a house. And what does he mean by these words: To make a home? He understands: to live from now on in independence and freedom, and to take care of a house which belongs to him. And then Laban said to him, What shall I give you? (Gen. 30:31) What do you wish to receive from me? speak, for I recognize him and I would not deny him, all that I have received from God, all the blessings with which he has filled me, it is in your presence that I owe them. Jacob answered him, "You will not give me anything, and if you do what I say, I will feed your flocks." I do not want anything from you as a salary, but I only accept what I am going to say, and I will still feed your holes. skins. What I want, here it is: Consider the righteous, because he has confidence in the protection of God, here is the proposal he makes to Laban: Let your flocks, say he, pass by today before you, put except for all the sheep with blackish fleeces, and all that is mixed with white and spotted among the goats will be my reward. And my righteousness will be manifested later because my reward will be easy to discern. All that is not spotted and mixed with white among the goats, and black among the lambs, will be recognized as belonging to you. (Gen. 30:32-33)

Notice the prudence of the righteous; con. trusting in the protection from above, he poses it. even conditions which, according to the order of nature, were to render, if not impossible, at least very difficult, his just remuneration; the variegated color is, in fact, very rarely found in newly born lambs, and yet Jacob only asks for them; so Laban hastens to accede to his request, and he says to him: Let it be done according to your word. And on that day he separated the spotted goats mixed with white, and the goats spotted and mixed with white, and all that was white among them, and all that was, of black fleece, and he put again in the hands of his sons this part, and he put a distance of three days between these flocks and those of Jacob. (Gen. 30:34-36) He divided, says the Scripture, his flocks according to the proposal of Jacob, and gave them to his sons. And Jacob fed the flocks of Laban that remained, that is, those whose fleece was not of mixed color. All this was done so that the righteous might learn through the event the great care that God had of him, and that Laban saw what assistance from above Jacob enjoyed. Jacob, said the text, took sticks of styrax, almond and plane tree still green; he removed some of the green bark, so that the places from which the bark had been removed appeared white and others falling green. Thus these chopsticks became of varied color. And he placed the chopsticks thus debarked in them. channels of drinking-troughs, so that the ewes, when they go to drink, would have them before the eyes while drinking, and conceived little ones of similar color. They did indeed conceive like this, and put down little fleece with a mixture of white, varied, and speckled with the color of ashes. (Gen. 30:37-39) This is what the righteous did, not of his own motion, but of the grace from on high which inspired his thought. For this was not done according to the order of nature, but it was something miraculous and beyond the natural order. And he divided the lambs, and he set before the sheep a ram with fleece mixed with white, and all the lambs of mixed color, and he set his flock aside, and mingled him not with the sheep of Laban. (Gen. 30:40) When henceforth lambs of this kind were born, he added them to his flock; He set them apart, and had a separate flock. And it happened that at the time when the sheep conceived, Jacob placed these chopsticks in front of them, so that they conceived little ones of similar color. And when they gave birth, he did not place the chopsticks anymore. That which bore no mark was to Laban, and that which bore it to Jacob, and he greatly enriched himself. (Gen. 30:41-43) Why this expression redoubled? to show its great wealth, because it does not enrich greatly, but very greatly. For, says the text, he had many flocks, and oxen, and servants, and maidservants. (Gen. 30:43) [Homilies on Genesis]